Chavez, Castro Political Alliance Grows With Bolivian Entry
By: Administrative Account | Source: CNSNews.com
May 2, 2006 6:16AM EST

By Howard Williams
CNSNews.com Correspondent
May 01, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro added a third amigo to their dream of a broad-based alliance of nationalist Latin American governments this weekend with the signing of a treaty with Bolivia to join the so-called Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA).

The agreement, signed in Havana during a visit to the Cuban capital by Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales, came on the first anniversary of the launching of the ALBA idea by Chavez and Castro.

The buzz in Havana was that ALBA has now become a viable economic model to fend off the U.S.-sponsored Free Trade of the Americas (FAA) plan, which critics claim would unfairly benefit of American-owned multinationals and threaten Latin American economic development.

Although not mentioned publicly, Cuban officials were privately predicting that Peru would be the next member of ALBA, following the May 28 presidential run-off election between nationalist Ollanta Humala and socialist Alan Garcia.

Both men have opposed a U.S.-Peru free trade agreement, which was ratified last month in the midst of the ongoing election campaign.

Fidel Castro confidently predicted at the weekend ceremony: "Now, for the first time, there are three of us; I believe that one day all (Latin American) countries can be here."

With the prospect of more regime changes in Latin America in the coming months, officials in Caracas and Havana are confident that their "revolutionary" momentum has only just started.

Peru is sure to elect a president opposed to a free trade pact with the U.S. But, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, whose government also has a bilateral trade pact with Washington, still has enough support to win a new mandate in the first round of balloting, also scheduled for May 28.

According to an Invamer Gallup poll published last week, Uribe has 55 percent support, enough for him to avoid a run-off election, thanks to his tough line in combating leftist guerrillas. His willingness to work closely with Washington appears to have done him little, if any, harm.

Mexico, Brazil and Nicaragua are also slated to have presidential and assembly elections this year.

In addition to Colombia, the ALBA alliance appears to have suffered a major setback in Mexico, where conservative presidential candidate Felipe Calderon last week overtook leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in the opinion polls leading up to that country's July general election.

The remaining two presidential elections - in Brazil and Nicaragua - could, however, produce some powerful allies for Chavez and Castro.

In Brazil, President Lula da Silva is expected to have an easy victory in October and in Nicaragua Daniel Ortega, the former leftist military dictator, is currently the front-runner in the race leading to the Nov. 5 poll there, much to the delight of Chavez.

After the Cuban ceremony admitting Bolivia to the ALBA pact, Ortega was Chavez's guest on the president's weekly television broadcast. "I shouldn't say I hope you win because they will accuse me of sticking my nose into Nicaraguan internal affairs," Chavez told Ortega. "But I hope you win," he added.

The admission of Bolivia, with an abundance of gas supplies, gives extra economic strength to ALBA which has, so far, relied almost entirely on Venezuela's oil riches to finance the failing Cuban economy and tempt other impoverished Latin American nations.

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